How Times Have Changed

Just pottering about the house this morning getting ready to set out for our overnighter at Heathrow when I suddenly thought "hang on, it's 10:25 and I have checked in for our 09:25 flight tomorrow!". It seems that the days are gone when I'd be making myself unavailable for calls / meetings and frantically refreshing the screen to be on the dot for check in and a low SEQ number.

This is either down to getting older and more relaxed or my mind being more taken up with wondering what state the house will be when we get back as the builders start the foundations and steel works for our extension...

Haha, I have found the same. I used to be on-the-dot for checkin at T-24, whereas nowadays I either don't bother at all (if I'm checking bags) or I do it when I'm on the train to the airport.

I never could understand why people wanted a low seq number on boarding passes!

I never could understand why people wanted a low seq number on boarding passes!

Because we can.
I kept trying until I got a number one. Now I don't bother.
It#s a bit like trying to get maximum score on 2048. Once I achieve it I'll pack up.
Dick D

I never could understand why people wanted a low seq number on boarding passes!

Because we can.
I kept trying until I got a number one. Now I don't bother.
It#s a bit like trying to get maximum score on 2048. Once I achieve it I'll pack up.
Dick D

I know it's supposed to be random SEQ numbers that get the SSSS treatment - but in my experience SEQ1 is generally an above average chance. I just do OLCI at about the T-23hrs mark now & have had a lower incidence of annoying letters on my boarding pass.

Just pottering about the house this morning getting ready to set out for our overnighter at Heathrow when I suddenly thought "hang on, it's 10:25 and I have checked in for our 09:25 flight tomorrow!". It seems that the days are gone when I'd be making myself unavailable for calls / meetings and frantically refreshing the screen to be on the dot for check in and a low SEQ number.

This is either down to getting older and more relaxed or my mind being more taken up with wondering what state the house will be when we get back as the builders start the foundations and steel works for our extension...

I now forget to check in, which seems inconceivable compared to a few years ago. That said, my last flight was BA 1 and I was determined to get SEQ 1 on it! And succeeded.

I never could understand why people wanted a low seq number on boarding passes!

Cos it is fun.

I go out of my way to check in last. Helps the VS Op-Up chances in my experience.

I go out of my way to check in last. Helps the VS Op-Up chances in my experience.

I would also expect the reverse is true too - if the flight is really over-sold then it must increase your chances of a downgrade / bump right off the flight if you don't have appropriate FC status.

I've been on the VS45 to NYC where there was a passenger seated at the bar during boarding having a drink. The FSM was going round every passenger in Upper they could identify as travelling alone offering them a downgrade to PE in exchange for miles. The FSM got no takers and when I went to the toilet [by the bar] a short while later the said gentleman was being offered PE, a decent number of FC miles, or make his own travel arrangements. He offloaded himself. I am guessing that given the FSM's efforts to get someone to budge to Premium Economy, the passenger at the bar had status / was commercially important.

Over on the dark BA side, my parents had a flight to Canada a few years back and the BA OLCI system would not let them check in online at all, at about T-20hrs. Expertflyer quickly revealed the flight was completely sold out and when they arrived at T4 the next day they were greeted with World Traveller+ boarding passes (they bad booked Club World). They declined BA's kind offer and flew the following day in Club & had a night at the T4 Hilton courtesy of BA + £200 or £250 each on pre-paid cards.

I occasionally try for Seq. 1 just for the fun of it. For a while, I used to love OLCI just for the mobile passes. Now I only ever really do OLCI if I have an extra bag or if I suspect that the flight is overbooked.

I never bothered too much with this - at least I thought I didn't...

I still have my boarding pass for LHR-LAX on BA, seat 1A SEQ 1 - I can die happy now!

[honey lamb]

Just pottering about the house this morning getting ready to set out for our overnighter at Heathrow when I suddenly thought "hang on, it's 10:25 and I have checked in for our 09:25 flight tomorrow!". It seems that the days are gone when I'd be making myself unavailable for calls / meetings and frantically refreshing the screen to be on the dot for check in and a low SEQ number.

This is either down to getting older and more relaxed or my mind being more taken up with wondering what state the house will be when we get back as the builders start the foundations and steel works for our extension...

I'm with pjh on this one. Time was when I would be on tenterhooks waiting for the witching hour to arrive in search of that elusive SEQ 1. Nowadays I barely bother. I do OLCI if I remember. What cured me probably when I was flying from Cork to somewhere else on BA. EI wouldn't allow me to check in for a codeshare and BA wouldn't allow me to check in because my first leg hadn't been checked in.

Also, there was a time (and it may still exist ) when VS would not guarantee seat requests if you didn't do OLCI eleven hours before the flight. I know it's not the same as looking for SEQ 1 but it certainly did push OLCI.

Also, there was a time (and it may still exist ) when VS would not guarantee seat requests if you didn't do OLCI eleven hours before the flight. I know it's not the same as looking for SEQ 1 but it certainly did push OLCI.

This time around they decided to change my seat requests anyway - possibly as punishment for not being on the dot with OLCI? 15A and 16A, which I had set from this time last year when these offer tickets went on sale, morphed into 17A and 17K.

[buns]

I think I will start a new trend - based on our most recent flight - getting the LAST SEQ

buns

I think I will start a new trend - based on our most recent flight - getting the LAST SEQ

buns

I'd be up for playing that game... the highest SEQ you can get wins

[mitchja]

I don't know if airlines still do this, but you could also try for the 'last bag' tag on your checked luggage when checking in at the airport.

I'm guessing most of you who don't bother with OLCI fly in Upper? Surely it's the sensible thing to do if flying in Economy?

[mitchja]

I always OLCI / use the app regardless of which cabin or airline I fly with.

Which is fine, but if travelling on a partner airline to the one whose FF programme you’re a member of, I’ve found a physical boarding pass is useful as evidence in case the miles/TPs don’t post correctly.

[mitchja]

I just download boarding passes to my iPhone Wallet app.

Pretty much all the major airlines support that now.

I recall Honey Lamb getting about SEQ 480 on Emirates...when she had been rebooked after a delay on a flight from South Africa What is the highest config of any flight to the UK?

It’s theoretically possible - but extremely unlikely - to get a Seq number of over 1,000 if an A380 does two legs on the same flight number (eg LHR-SIN-SYD) and 100% of the passengers change at SIN.

I had SEQ 550 back in November .... SYD -DXB.... do I win?

[honey lamb]

I recall Honey Lamb getting about SEQ 480 on Emirates...when she had been rebooked after a delay on a flight from South Africa What is the highest config of any flight to the UK?

Did I?

I remember the flight. I had missed the connection from Dubai to Dublin when the flight from Durban had left an hour late and then had ended up on a remote stand. The journey from the aircraft to the terminal had taken 45 minutes during which time I had been taken off my flight. In those days there was only one flight to Dublin and they were transferring me to the following day's flight. I insisted I needed to be in Dublin that day (I didn't!) and asked them to transfer me to Heathrow (which they did, hence the high SEQ number) and then asked ever so nicely could they transfer me to Cork instead of Dublin as I would have missed the last train there (probably not but they weren't to know and I wasn't going to check). They did.

Fair play to Emirates. Their in-flight offerings are mixed - the 777s in business fall dramatically short of the offering on the A380s but (and it's a big BUT), the way they looked after me then and then a couple of years later when I flew them from Dublin to Dubai with my niece whose mother had died suddenly, their kindness and compassion was simply lovely.

Ahh. I’ve missed HoneyLamb’s tales of travel woe. Taken so well too, compared to some of the overreactions I’ve seen over the years. Some of those pax were deserving of an Oscar or perhaps a lengthy prison sentence.

Sorry Christine, you tend to have very questionable luck when it comes to leaving the homestead. Thankfully I’ve been ‘disastrous event’ free for the last few years .. long may it continue

Hopefully you’ll be gifted with high SEQ numbers because you’ve deliberately delayed check-in and not because you’ve been rerouted to some random outstation along the way.